How long can ancient DNA survive, and how much stuff do we need to escape poverty?

Why chatbots lie, and can synthetic organs and AI replace animal testing?

First up on the podcast, producer Meagan Cantwell and Contributing Correspondent Sara Reardon discuss alternative approaches to animal testing, from a heart on a chip to a miniorgan in a dish. Ne...

14 Aug 202531min

Why anteaters keep evolving, and how giant whales get enough food to live

First up on the podcast, Online News Editor David Grimm brings stories on peacock feathers’ ability to emit laser light, how anteaters have evolved at least 12 times, and why we should be thanking ket...

7 Aug 202528min

Wartime science in Ukraine, what Neanderthals really ate, and visiting the city of the dead

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Richard Stone joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the toll of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and how researchers have been mobilized to help the ...

31 Juli 202551min

Robots that eat other robots, and an ancient hot spot of early human relatives

First up on the podcast, South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind is home to the world’s greatest concentration of ancestral human remains, including our own genus, Homo, Australopithecus, and a more robust...

24 Juli 202534min

Studying a shark-haunted island, and upgrading our microbiomes with engineered bacteria

First up on the podcast, Réunion Island had a shark attack crisis in 2011 and closed its beaches for more than a decade. Former News Intern Alexa Robles-Gil joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how r...

17 Juli 202536min

A tardi party for the ScienceAdviser newsletter, and sled dog genomes

First up on the podcast, Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox joins host Sarah Crespi to celebrate the 2-year anniversary of ScienceAdviser with many stories about the amazing water bear. They also discu...

10 Juli 202525min

Losing years of progress against HIV, and farming plastic on Mars

First up on the podcast, U.S. aid helped two African countries rein in HIV. Then came President Donald Trump. Senior News Correspondent Jon Cohen talks with producer Kevin McLean about how in Lesotho ...

3 Juli 202531min

Will your family turn you into a chatbot after you die? Plus, synthetic squid skin, and the sway of matriarchs in ancient Anatolia

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Andrew Curry joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a pair of Science papers on kinship and culture in Neolithic Anatolia. The researchers used ancient ...

26 Juni 202544min